Dora the CoWorker
by Caramelgrl
Summary: DISCONTINUED Sequel to Dora the Teenager. Dora as a 26-year old.
1. A Disturbing Sight

The keyboard on 26-year old Dora's laptop clicked away as she busily worked on a project her boss had assigned her. It was due the next day, and she was only half-way done. If only she hadn't procrastinated so much! Her boss would fire her for sure! A voice then said "Good morning Dora. You're here early."

"Good morning Boots." she replied without even looking up. Usually, she looked at Boots while saying good morning, but today she couldn't stop if she didn't want to be fired. The air conditioning suddenly turned on and after a minute or two, the room got much colder. Dora shivered, and took another sip of her coffee.

"Darn, it's cold." she thought. If only she could look up from the computer screen to re-brew it! **(AN: Does this make sense? My family doesn't drink coffee too often, so I wouldn't know.)**

"Hey Dora, have you become a workaholic, or is it just your project?" Boots asked as he went to re-brew his coffee. How Dora envied him for that!

"Good question. I hope it's the latter." she replied.

"Good morning Boots and Dora!" another voice said.

"Good morning Benny." Dora and Boots replied.

"Dora, have you become a workaholic?" Benny asked.

"I asked her that same question. She says she hopes she's not." Boots replied. The two of them walked of to work on their laptops.

All the rest of the day, Dora didn't look up once from her computer. Boots brought her lunch, and Dora inhaled it as she typed. It turned out to be a bit messy, and she had to brush off some food bits from her keyboard. At the end of the day, Benny had to drag her from her chair in order to get her to leave.

It was only after she stopped working that she realized how tired her fingers and eyes were. She drove her way home drowsily, and when she arrived in her apartment, she plopped down on her couch and fell asleep.

Suddenly, the phone ran. Dora sprang up, and looked at the time. She had been asleep for two hours. The phone ran again, and Dora hurriedly picked it up. It was Boots.

"Dora, why aren't you at the party yet?" he asked.

"Party? What party?" Dora asked.

"The party at my house!" Boots replied. "How could you forget?"

"Oh, that party!" Dora exclaimed. "I'll get there as soon as I can!" She quickly hung up and ran out the door.

When she got there, everyone else was there except her. There was Tico, Boots with Isa(married), Benny with Bianca(dating)… Dora suddenly felt a pang of depression. Everyone else had some special person in their life except her. This party was a size-10 reminder of that.

"Hey Dora!" they all said at different times.

"Where were you?" Benny asked.

"I kind of forgot there was a party…" Dora said sheepishly.

"¿Cómo podría usted olvidar?_(How could you forget?)_" Tico asked. All of them had learned Spanish in high school, so understanding Tico was no problem. Tico had also learned English in high school, but he couldn't speak it very well.

"It doesn't matter." said Isa. "The important thing is that she came. Now, we shall start dinner." She led them to the dining room, and each of them sat down to plates of food and champagne.

"To our friendship!" Boots said as he held up his glass.

"To our friendship!" everyone else said as they clanked their glasses together.

"¡A nuestra amistad!_(To our friendship!)_" Tico said. Everyone laughed.

"I remember back when I was 15 at the mall with Bianca, and we forgot to 'check our appearances before we went out', and we freaked out. Such apathetic teen memories." remarked Dora with a chuckle.

"We also saw Benny that day, and he was like 'Here Dora' like you were going to bite him or something." replied Bianca with a smile.

"Hey! It wasn't my fault! Dora was acting really evil!" Benny countered. Everyone laughed at his choice of words.

"It's not funny! Dora's attitude back then was a serious issue!" said Isa.

"Sí." Tico agreed.

"Isa, why must you be so serious all the time?" Benny asked.

"I'm not serious all the time, I'm just practical." Isa countered.

"Yeah right." Benny muttered.

As the dinner progressed on, more old memories were told, and they began to get drunk. Benny, Bianca, and Tico were the most drunk. Boots drank a medium amount and Dora and Isa drank less than Boots.

"Hey, where's Bianca and Benny?" Isa asked.

"Benny went to the bathroom and I have no idea where Bianca is." Boots replied, his speech slightly slurred.

"Dora, will you go and get some more napkins from the laundry room downstairs?" Isa asked.

"Sure." Dora replied. She went downstairs, and when she opened the laundry room door, she found…

**(Cliffie! MUAHAH!!!!)**

…Benny and Bianca on the floor making out and getting heavy. Dora ran out of there as fast as she could, and started crying, for a reason she was yet to find out.


	2. A Disasterous Dinner

**Note: When Dora "talks" to her voice, she's not saying it out loud****.**

She didn't know where she was, and she didn't care. For all she knew, she was in the middle of Beijing about to be run over by a car. She lost track of time, and after what seemed like an eternity, a voice spoke.

"_Why are you crying?" _

Dora looked up, tears still streaming down her face. No one was around but her.

"_I'm in your head silly." _

Dora stopped crying, and thought "Since when was there a voice in my head?"

"_Never mind that. Now answer my question. Why are you crying?"_

"I'm crying because…" Dora paused. Why was she crying again? "Because Benny and Bianca were making out on the floor."

"_But why should that make you cry? Sure, it could disturb you, but it makes absolutely no sense that you would cry over it."_

Bianca began to reply to the voice, but then realized it had a point. Why should she cry over something like that?

"I don't know; I just impulsively started crying. Did you make me start crying?"

"_No dear, that was your subconscious. I'm here to reveal it to you. The stuff in it has been kept secret far too long if you ask me."_

"But that's why it's called your sub-conscious. You're not supposed to know the stuff in it."

"_Who cares about what you're supposed to know. Let's care about what you want to know. For instance, why were you crying over Benny and Bianca?"_

"Will you tell me?"

"_Oh no, it's not that easy. I'm not going to reveal everything in the snap of a finger. You have to earn it."_

"How?" Dora thought impatiently.

"_Patience Dora. Patience is the key to success."_

"I don't care about success!"

"_Oh really? You have to succeed in making me tell you stuff, don't you?"_

"You remind of those computer games where the computer appears to monitor your moves and wins every time."

"_Well, that's because I'm part of you."_

"Well then, shouldn't I be a part of you?"

"_A seed is part of a watermelon. A watermelon though, is not part of the seed, but contains the seed."_

"So shouldn't I be able to control you?"

"_Your advantage is that you don't have to listen to me. I have no direct control over you. However, I can talk whenever I want, and I can read your thoughts."_

"Seems like you have the upper-hand to me."

"_You could say that. It's disputable though."_

"How?"

"_Oh look, you've stopped crying! Bravo! Now, do you want to argue all day? Your friends will be worried. You don't even know where you are."_

Dora looked around, and saw four dark walls. She concluded she must be somewhere in the basement. She observed her surroundings further, and realized she was under a table on the opposite side of the basement from the laundry room.

"_Remember, you still have to get those napkins. Voice, signing off."_

"No! Don't go!" Dora pleaded. The voice was silent. "Don't leave me! Tell me how this is going to turn out!" The voice was silent once more. "Well, I guess it can't predict the future anymore than I can. But what if they're still in there? What if it got really heavy? I better listen before I go in." She tiptoed toward the door, and pressed her ear against it. There were footsteps, and they were coming toward the door. "They must be coming out." she thought. She quickly lifted her head up and stepped back, then walked forward as if she had just started approaching the door. As soon as he hand touched the knob, the door opened.

"Oh! Hi Dora! I was just seeing if there were any forks in there." Benny said quickly. Dora's gaze fell on Bianca.

"I was accompanyinghim to see if there were any plates."

"Well, I came to get some napkins." Dora said as she hurried into the room. She wasn't ready to see them unless it was absolutely necessary. She found the napkins easily, they were right in front of her, and she was tempted to stay in there, but thought about how long she must have cried, and hurried to the bathroom to minimize her red eyes. She walked upstairs slowly. Everyone was seated at the table, and Isa was looking at her with concern.

***************************************************

**Bianca's POV**

Benny lay on top of me, and his body heat felt extremely pleasurable. Add lots of good kissing and foreplay, and let's just say I felt like screaming. But I knew I couldn't, and I resorted to moaning.

Suddenly, my ears detected footsteps approaching the door. Benny obviously didn't hear it, for he continued his foreplay. I gently got him off her, even though I hated to do so. I then realized I had deserted a dinner, and guilt immediately washed over me.

"Shh. Someone's coming." I whispered, and we quickly got up. When Benny opened the door, Dora was there.

"Oh! Hi Dora! I was just seeing if there were any forks in there." Benny said quickly. Stupid Benny! What a pathetic lie; now my lie would have to be equally pathetic in order to make his seem unsuspicious! Dora's gaze fell on me, and that prompted me to give my lie.

"I was accompanyinghim to see if there were any plates." I said. How stupid of me! I could have used much better words then that!

"Well, I came to get some napkins!" she said as she hurried into the room, as if she was trying to avoid us. Maybe she knew. But she couldn't have, right?

*******************************************************

**Third Person POV**

"What took you so long?" Isa asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I couldn't really find the napkins." Dora replied hesitantly.

"How? They were right there as soon as you went in!" Isa said.

"Oh, I must have overlooked them." Dora replied. She spotted a glint of doubt in Isa's eyes, and sat down.

"Well, where were you and Benny?" Isa asked Bianca.

"I was trying to find some plates, and Benny was trying to find some forks. We must have overlooked them, and by the time we found them, we realized that there were still forks and plates upstairs, and we came up." Bianca said smoothly. Dora envied how smoothly Bianca lied. If only she could be like that!

"Well then, let's continue our dinner, shall we?" Boots asked. Everyone nodded in agreement.

The rest of dinner wasn't as great as before Dora had went down. Boots talked quite naturally, but Isa talked a bit stiffly, as if she knew exactly what happened and was bothered by it. Dora ate her dinner silently, and tuned in and out of the chatter. She decided to see if her voice would talk.

"Voice? Are you there?" Silence. "I could use some advance guidance now!" More silence. "Maybe it only talks when it needs too. Hey, can you tell me why I cried downstairs earlier now? Or have I not earned it yet?" Still more silence. "Oh well, I guess I have to earn it. But how am I supposed to earn it if I don't know how to earn it?"

"_That's the best part of things; figuring out how to do things."_

"You're back! Please, stay there! At least give me some small talk!" Silence. "Did it really come back, or was it my imagination? Was the whole thing my imagination? Was I so depressed that I imagined a talk with a voice in my head? Oh well. Might as well join the rest of them."

"Hey Dora, why aren't you saying anything?" asked Benny suddenly.

"I don't know. I just don't have anything to say." Dora replied.

"Dora, why not telling us what really happened in the basement?" Isa asked.

"I'm telling you, I just had a hard time finding the napkins!" Dora said as seriously as possible.

"Yeah." said Isa sarcasticly.

"Isa, you need to lighten up a bit! You're always so serious! What happened to the Isa from 19 years ago?" Dora said, trying to change the subject.

"I did lighten up a bit, and you would have known if you had been paying attention. I am not always serious; I can joke if I want to." Isa replied.

"You didn't lighten up during the conversation! What you did was smile a tiny smile!" Boots countered.

"You're the one to talk. You're still drunk right now. Oh, why did I have to marry monkey that gets drunk?" Isa remarked.

"For your information, I'm not drunk anymore. Oh, why did I have to marry a highly critical IGUANA?" Boots replied.

"Guys, stop, before a big fight happens." Bianca cut in.

"Sí, eso sería ciertamente malo_.(Yes, that would certainly be bad.)"_ Tico remarked. Isa sighed; frustrated.

"Isa, why are you in such a bad mood right now?" Boots asked.

"Because I took the time to host a dinner, and then ¾ of the guests leave for half an hour, and then they come back and lie about what they were doing." Isa snapped.

"How were we lying?" Bianca asked.

"Bianca, you and Dora were lying, and you know it." Isa snapped.

"Ellos don' t tiene que decir si ellos don' t quiere a_.(They don't have to tell if they don't want to)"_ Tico said.

"Stay out of this!" Isa snapped.

"Why does he have to?" asked Boots.

"Why? Because- Ugh!" Isa exclaimed as she walked away with her hands crossed.

"What's wrong with Isa today?" Benny asked.

"You and Bianca, that's what! You guys caused this whole thing, and you know it! You deserted a nice dinner, and caused me to do so, and now you're asking what's wrong with Isa?" Dora yelled.

"Wait, how did we cause you to desert the dinner? Didn't you go down for only a short while to get the napkins?" Bianca asked.

"You kept me down there by talking to me." Dora replied after some hesitation, having nothing else to say that wouldn't reveal that she had cried. Boots snorted.

"That's what you consider a delay? Are you morphing into Isa or something?" Boots asked, trying to add a bit of humor to this grim conversation.

"This dinner has turned into a disaster, and Benny and Bianca clearly caused it, hanging down there so long. You've made me and Isa mad, and I bet Boots will be soon to follow! Why don't you go back to your house and get heavy there? I know I'm going soon!" Dora exclaimed. Benny and Bianca blushed, and Boots stared in confusion.

"Well, you know Dora, I don't get mad that easily. What happened to the Dora from 19 years ago?" Boots remarked.

"I'm just in an exceptionally bad mood today Boots. It's not your fault. It's some certain people's fault." Dora said darkly as she walked off to her car.

"Wait, Dora! Don't go!" Boots cried, but it was too late. He sighed.

"I'm really sorry Boots." Benny pleaded.

"Dora said something about getting heavy. Was that what you two were doing downstairs?" Boots asked.

"Great. Even Boots is getting serious now. Sooner or later he'll be mad too." Bianca thought.

"Not exactly…" Benny replied.

"Did you leave any stains?" Boots asked. Benny and Bianca's blush was now several shades brighter.

"No." Bianca replied.

"Why don't you guys go home while I work things out with Isa? I'm not mad at you like Dora and Isa, just frustrated at how this party turned out, ok?" Boots said. Benny and Bianca nodded furiously as they walked toward Benny's car.

"This is all your fault." said Bianca quietly. "You were the one who pushed me down."

"Well, you didn't stop me. And why were you down there in the first place?" Benny retorted.

"I was looking for you! Why were you down there?" Bianca asked.

"I was looking for you!" Benny replied.

"So we're even, except for the fact that you pushed me down. So it's your wrong doing!" Bianca exclaimed.

"Well, I'm sorry." said Benny. "Let's just drop the topic, ok? I know you're not Isa."

"Oh fine." said Bianca reluctantly. She stared out the window the whole ride back to her apartment.


End file.
